China and Germany share common grounds in opposing trade protectionism, said Li, urging the German side to play a positive role in pushing the EU to defuse the frictions with China through dialogue and consultation and safeguard the overall Sino-EU economic and trade cooperation.
Merkel, for her part, said Germany and China have carried out smooth cooperation on politics, economy, diplomacy and culture, adding the two countries have very close ties and their relations have reached an unprecedented high level.
China has significant global influence and is an important cooperative partner for Germany, Merkel said.
Germany is ready to deepen its cooperation and strengthen exchanges and mutual-learning with China to jointly push forward the development of their strategic partnership, she said.
Germany supports stronger EU-China cooperation, said Merkel, adding that it believes the two sides should use dialogue and consultation to resolve the problems in their cooperation, make efforts to expand trade volume while avoiding frictions, so as to achieve mutual benefits and win-win results.
Following their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a host of documents on bilateral cooperation in investment, energy saving and environmental protection, agriculture and education.
Before their meeting, they officially launched "the Year of Languages" program between China and Germany.
Germany is the last leg of Li's ongoing trip, which has already taken him to India, Pakistan and Switzerland.
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